Just a few weeks ago, the Tiwi Bombers were on the crest of a wave. With three consecutive wins, the Bombers were cautiously looking at a surprise finals charge. But since then they have lost three games in a row, last weekend against the bottom placed Wanderers. The Bombers now face the prospect again of a wooden spoon unless they find form again. Wanderers, however, have won two of their past four matches and can justifiably claim their own march to finals.

In other matches on the weekend, the Darwin Buffaloes brought down the Southern Districts Crocs, Nightcliff comfortably dispatched St Mary’s and the Palmerston Magpies won a thriller after the siren against Waratah.

Wanderers seemingly threw away their golden chance to defeat the Bombers when they kicked just one goal from seven scoring shots in the opening quarter. They we made to pay, as the Bombers kicked five second quarter goals to lead at the main break. But the Muk Muks really did run amok in the second half. Wanderers hammered home ten goals in the second half to just four from the Bombers to win comfortably by 32 points.

Lost in the shuffle of Majak Daw’s recent injuries when falling from Melbourne’s Bolte Bridge is his impact on the game of Australian Rules football. Whilst there is some polarisation of people’s reaction to Daw’s latest misfortune – from sympathy to, sadly, discriminatory – Daw’s contribution to opportunity for young immigrants is profound.

Rohan Smith’s article at www.news.com.au sheds great light on his journey and achievements within the context of how hard daw has had to work through his life to achieve at all.

Majak Daw has survived it all, and continues to hang tough. It’s not just a tribute to his strength — it’s a result of where he’s come from.

When Majak Daw speaks, you’d never know English is his second language. He’s got the Australian twang.

When he kicks a footy, you’d never know he grew up a world away where the luxury of recreational sport isn’t afforded to kids like it is here.

Former Lion Kaitlyn Ashmore will now play for one of the new AFLW teams in the 2019 season, the North Melbourne Tasmanian Kangaroos.

“Family is a big thing for me, and being closer to them was one of the main reasons why I came home. When North were granted a license, I thought it would be the perfect fit for me," Ashmore said

"North has had an alliance with Melbourne Uni for years, where I have played for 6 years and over 130 games. I was also moving back and forth from QLD every 6 months over the 2 seasons I had there and it’s actually quite exhausting."

Image Source: North Media

For the Kangaroos, Ashmore will continue to wear the jumper number 10 in 2019 same as the number she wore at the Lions.

Round 10 of the NTFL Premier League saw the Palmerston Magpies make their biggest statement yet regarding their desire for the rest of this season. Their win over the Darwin Buffaloes has them and the league rethinking the rest of the season. St Mary’s also spoke loudly to the rest after downing Wanderers, the Crocs gave the Tiwi Bombers more to think about and Nightcliff’s shellacking of Waratah has asked some big questions.

The Magpies got away to a blinder against the Buffaloes, producing an exciting seven goal opening quarter. The Buffaloes came back hard and just three points was the half time margin in favour of the Pies. Palmerston had the better of the third quarter and held off a determined Buffaloes in the final term to hold on by 20 points. For Palmerston, the win see them equal on points with fifth-placed St Mary’s but more importantly, the win sees them having beaten the third and fourth placed teams this season.

Some believe that the AFL is offering a glittering opportunity to Irish players, but from the point of view of Irish clubs and leagues, it isn’t that black and white.

A GAELIC football powerhouse has developed a booklet called 'Stay, Play and Work in Kerry' as Irish clubs prepare to take up the fight to AFL counterparts luring their best talent.

Geelong signing Stefan Okunbor is the latest Kerry export to pursue a professional sports career in Australia and there will be a record-setting 14 Irishmen on AFL lists next year.

Okunbor, one of Kerry's brightest young Gaelic prospects, will bid to join Sean Wight, Tadhg Kennelly, Tommy Walsh and Cats teammate Mark O'Connor as footballers from 'The Kingdom' to play an AFL game.

Not to long ago AFL Canada released a pictorial summary, displayed at the end of this article. Now we have presidents report from AFL Canada which provides some explanation.

In summary, senior player numbers were flat .

AFL Ontario contributed to the lower number of men's player with the withdrawl of Broadview in Toronto bringimg the men's division down to nine teams, but with new prospects in in the regional cities of Barrie, London and especially Kingston.

AFL Quebec increased in both genders, with the introduction of the Montreal City Blues and Blue Belles bringing the league's teams up to five and three, respectively.

Juniors league players are split between the long established North Delta Junior AFL and Calgary. The vast majority of those junior players are non-Australians.

The fourth round of the Championnat de France Léo Lagrange 2018-2019 wrapped up this weekend ahead of the winter break. Round Five will commence in early March. To see out the round, three matches were played in Paris and Bordeaux – each shaping the ladder and making things interesting when footy returns.

In Bordeaux, the ALFA Lions took on the Bordeaux Bombers in a match that was vital for each team’s chances of seeing finals action. Each team went into the match with a win and the victor would get the jump on their opponent. The Lions got away to a good start, leading by 14 points at the first change and by 28 at half time.

The Bombers could make no inroads in the second half, down by 49 points at the final change before going down after a late rally by 39 points. The final score saw the ALFA Lions 106 defeat the Bordeaux Bombers 67.

When discussing the history of Australian Rules football in Australia, the nexus of the game has always been centred on the southern states of Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania. The development of the game in Queensland has often been linked to the arrival on the national stage of the Brisbane Bears, then Lions and the Gold Coast Suns.

Yet authors Murray Bird and Greg Parker have spent a decade researching the true origins and development of the game in Queensland, tracing the period of 150 years from 1866 to 2016. The book “More Of The Kangaroo – 150 Years Of Australian Fotball In Queensland – 1866 to 2016” is comprehensive.

From the south-eastern population centres in Brisbane, the Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast and Toowoomba/Darling Downs to the regional cities to the north and even west (Wide Bay, Rockhampton, Mackay, Townsville, Cairns, Mt Isa), Bird and Parker have extensively researched the growth of Australian Rules football across Queensland.

The favourites won their AFL Middle East matches in Round 3, with the scoreboards showing emphatic wins to the Dubai Dragons by 59 points over the Dubai Dingoes and the Multiplex Bulls by 33 points over the Abu Dhabi Falcons. The matches marked the midway point of the season and the final games for 2018. But, more significantly, each match could have been so much different but for one quarter.

Down in the capital, the Abu Dhabi Falcons gave the Bulls a ferocious welcome. The Falcons came out on fire and gave the Bulls a devil of a time, kicking five first quarter goals and holding a decent 17-point lead at the first break. By half time, the Bulls had fought back to lead a tight clash by just two points.

The final quarter was won by the Falcons by a single point. But the damage was done in one quarter by the Bulls as they hammered home seven goals to two in a powerful third term. The Falcons held their own for the rest of the day, but would just love the chance to replay that third quarter again.

Hollywood actor, Natalie Portman, has recently visited Australia and spent some time with the Melbourne Demons. On her return home, Natalie has taken our game to the world stage with a brief mention on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, taking the "platypus" of sports into homes across the United States and the world.

You certainly don’t need to be telling me how difficult it is to put competitive teams on the field. Cairns, in northern Australia, is not an Australian Rules football stronghold. Whilst we have been able to procure AFL matches and a healthy local competition at senior and junior level, the fact remains that we are in a part of Australia that is Rugby League territory.

When we get a team on the field it comes from an enormous amount of recruiting work to convince kids especially to try the game. My own work since 2001 in getting school kids into the game has paid dividends, yet cancelled games still litter our code at junior levels. Too many, sadly.

So, I have some empathy with AFL England when they put out social media announcements to try and get past teams such as the Sheffield Thunder, Leeds Minotaurs and Birmingham Bears from the AFLCNE, or the Bournemouth Demons and Surrey Stags from the Southern England AFL to rebuild.

The Fiji Tribe successfully defended their Oceania Cup this year, taking home the goods after a thrilling weekend of U15 footy in the nation’s capital of Suva. Playing against highly competitive sides such as the Nauru Stars, the Vanuatu Volcanoes and the South Pacific All-Stars, the Tribe finished the tournament with a flourish and will look to build upon their performance in the new year.

The first day, December 3rd, featured lightning cup-style matches between the Tribe and the Pacific All-Stars, which were made up of players from Tonga, Fiji and the Solomon Islands. The Tribe’s defense held strong in the contest. The hard-working Tribe were a bit inaccurate on goal, but they ensured that every possession was hard-fought in the midfield. Simione Kaivei led the way with two goals, while emerging Inia Rabuka was influential around the contest and earned best on ground honors for his efforts. In the end, the Tribe won by a score of 5.7.37 to 2.0.12.